


A Little Serendipity

by princesskaits



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Awkward Ben, Ben POV, Ben and Rey are endgame I swear, Ben has a kid, Ben is a widower, Brief mention of his marriage to Bazine, But doesn't know how to talk to her, Character Death (happened in the past and not major character), F/M, Fluff, HEA, Has a crush on Rey, He brings him into the office, Kid gets lost, Kid wanders into Rey's office, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25365673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princesskaits/pseuds/princesskaits
Summary: “Rey is awesome, dad. She gave me a lollipop and she thought my Kylo Ren action figure was cool. You should go on a date with her.”Ben’s eyes go so wide they nearly bug out of his head. He really hopes Rey didn’t hear that, but judging by the way her eyebrows shoot all the way up to her hairline, he’s wrong. “Rian, please--”“She has really cool games on her computer,” Rian gushes, “and she’s got a drawer full of all kinds of candy. She’s so cool! You have to ask her on a date.”Ben would like very much to say something--anything--to get his son to stop talking, but the sheer amount of embarrassment he’s feeling has rendered him utterly speechless. His mouth just keeps bobbing open and closed like he’s a goldfish.-or-In which Ben's son gets lost at Ben's work and ends up wandering into Rey's (his crush) office and suggests Ben and Rey go on a date.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo
Comments: 17
Kudos: 205





	A Little Serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the following tweet from @galacticidiots: https://twitter.com/galacticidiots/status/1283306214542266375
> 
> I had fun writing this one! It's 4k+ of pure fluff, so please enjoy 🤗
> 
> Big shout out to Fran for always providing the fandom with fluffy prompts 💖

Six seconds.

Six seconds is all it took for Ben’s seven-year-old son, Rian, to disappear while Ben finished up looking through some paperwork--a task that seems monumentally trivial now compared to tracking down his missing child. 

He doesn’t even know how Rian could have gone so far in such a short amount of time. One moment he was playing with his  _ Galaxy Wars _ action figure on the couch in Ben’s office, and the next, Ben looked up to see the couch empty and his office door wide open. 

Naturally, Ben shoots up from his chair with such force he nearly knocks it over and bolts out of his office, scanning frantically for a scrawny, dark-haired boy wandering in the hallway.

But Ben can’t see him. Panic claws at his throat as he calls out, “Rian!” But he’s nowhere to be seen. 

Someone  _ must _ have noticed him. Lord knows an unsupervised kid walking through the halls is bound to turn a few heads. Ben spies a familiar face heading into a conference room and runs towards them. “Hux!”

The red-haired man in question halts in the doorway and turns to face Ben. “Have you seen my son?”

“Actually, I did,” he states menially, not seeming to register--or care about--the look of concern on Ben’s face. “Nosy little bugger. He wanted to know what was in my mug and when I told him it was coffee he asked if he could have some.” He narrows his eyes at Ben. “Do you let your son drink  _ coffee _ , Solo?”

Ben ignores the question and asks, “Where did he go?”

“Last I saw he was walking into someone’s office in the IT department.” Hux points in the general direction.

“And you didn’t  _ stop him _ ?” Ben demands.

“I have more important things to do than watch your child for you,” Hux scoffs and walks into the conference room.

Ben rolls his eyes and takes off down the hallway.

As he makes his way to IT, he keeps thinking about the series of unfortunate events that lead to him bringing Rian into the office in the first place. First, Rian’s school called reporting plumbing issues (you’d think with all the money they charge in tuition every year they’d spend a little of it updating their rusted pipes before they burst). Then Rian’s nanny, Rose, informed Ben she woke up with a fever, so she wouldn’t be able to look after Rian today and Ben’s only backup (his mother) told him  _ she _ couldn’t either because she had an all-day meeting with the governor (“No, Benjamin, it cannot be rescheduled. I may be a senator, but even I can’t change someone’s availability.”) And, lastly, because Ben has an important meeting with his boss, Snoke, and one of their biggest clients, which is scheduled to start in--he checks his Rolex--fifteen minutes, he couldn’t use a personal day to stay home with Rian, so he was left with no choice but to bring him into work.

His assistant, Kaydel, has been watching Rian most of the day, but of course she’s taking a late lunch break right now, so Ben had to keep Rian entertained for an hour until she came back. He loves his son--he really does--but sometimes he can be a lot to handle, especially when Ben is trying to get work done. As Vice President of Business Development at Snoke Industries, he has to work long hours and take paperwork home with him more often than he’d like. Even before Rian’s mother died a few years ago, work kept him pretty busy, but it was easier with Bazine at home. Now he has to rely on Rose and his mother to help keep them afloat.

Still, he’s doing his best as a single dad--even though it might not look like it right now.

The closer he gets to the IT department, the quicker his pace becomes. Thankfully, IT is a fairly concentrated department, made up of only a handful of people, so it shouldn’t be hard for him to figure out which office Rian went into. He starts poking his head into every one he passes. He’s probably getting some weird looks, but he really doesn’t care because all that matters is finding Rian and making sure he’s  _ safe _ .

But he’s coming to the end of the hallway, and just as he’s about to punch the nearest wall out of frustration, he hears a familiar little voice coming out of the very last office. “--he’s a  _ really _ good cook. He makes the best mac and cheese ever!”

Ben lets out a sigh of relief.  _ Thank God _ . He turns the corner and walks into the office. “Rian, I’ve been looking  _ everywhere _ \--”

The rest of the sentence dies in his throat when he sees  _ her _ sitting there behind the desk. The very same  _ her _ that took his breath away in the elevator one year ago. He hadn’t been that stunned by a woman since meeting Bazine all those years ago, and the very idea that someone could render him completely speechless like that again made him dizzy. She must have just started working at Snoke Industries that very day, because there is no way he would have ever missed seeing a woman as beautiful as her, with her glossy chestnut hair, sparkling hazel eyes, and adorable dimples. He sees her every day now, riding up the car with him to the tenth floor. Every day he glances at her hopefully, wanting to say something--anything--to get her to look at him. But he chickens out every time, because there’s no way someone as pretty as her would ever go for a too-tall goof like him.

But  _ now _ she’s looking right at him. With his son in her lap. And it’s... _ doing  _ things to him.

Rian grins big when he sees Ben. He’s waving around his action figure and twirling a red lollipop in his mouth, which Ben assumes he must have gotten from  _ her _ . “Dad!” Rian jumps off of her lap and barrels towards him, wrapping his little arms as far around Ben’s waist as he can.

Ben’s thoughts are all over the place, because he’s simultaneously furious with Rian for wandering off and relieved he’s okay and also wondering what sort of forces are at work in the universe for Rian to choose  _ her _ office out of all the offices on their floor to wander into. His mind completely ceases to function when  _ she _ says to Rian, “You didn’t tell me your dad was the  _ vice president _ ,” because now all he can think about is that  _ she knows who he is _ \--she’s  _ noticed  _ him. This must be some kind of dream. Any minute now he’ll wake up drooling with paperwork stuck to his face because there’s no way any of this is really happening. 

But it must be because she’s moving, rounding the corner of her desk and smoothing her skirt out as she walks towards him. “I called your boy in here because I thought he looked lost and I didn’t want him to keep walking around by himself. I asked him where his parents were and he started talking all about you. Of course, he didn’t give me any helpful information, like your name. He just told me he was hungry and started going on and on about how good of a cook you are. He was even starting to make  _ me _ hungry.” She pauses, taking a breath. “Sorry, I’m rambling. Oh--I haven’t even introduced myself!” She holds out one of her small hands. “I’m Rey Johnson.”

He knows her name already, of course, because he spent the better part of his lunch break one day going through the company directory trying to find her picture. When he did manage to find it, he may or may not have bookmarked the page in a private tab on his web browser because holy crap did she even look good in that photo. He also read her bio, of course: Rey Johnson, IT Manager, has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Computer Science from Columbia University. So not only is she beautiful, but she’s smart, too .  He should have known he might run into her when he came over here, but he wasn’t thinking about anything else other than finding Rian. He’s kind of wishing he’d been able to mentally prepare himself a bit more, because the longer he looks at her, the less likely coherent sentences are to come out of his mouth.

“Sir?” The sound of her British hilt jars him from his thoughts and he realizes he’s just staring at her outstretched hand. Quickly, he meets hers with his own in a firm handshake. Her palm is warm and soft, and he instantly wishes he was holding her hand for a different reason.

“Rey--yes--nice to meet you.” He replies, trying to collect himself. “I’m Ben Solo.”

“I know,” she smirks. “Everyone knows who you are.”

He blinks at her. “They do?”

“Yes,” she says carefully. “Your picture is on the homepage of the company website.”

“R-right,” he stammers. He’d forgotten about that stupid photo. Snoke made him do it as part of a new marketing strategy to make the company look more human by showing off the faces of the executives. Of  _ course _ she would only know him from that. It’s not like she spends every morning staring at him in the elevator wishing she could talk to him like he does with her. That would be absurd.

Ben realizes he’s still holding onto her hand and quickly withdraws. He changes the subject quickly in an attempt to regain his composure. “Well, thank you, Rey, for finding him. I very much appreciate it.”

“Oh, it was no problem!” She says it like she actually took pleasure in the fact. “I have a godson his age. I know it can be hard to keep track of the little guys sometimes.” 

“It is.” He’s suddenly reminded of the entire reason he’s even in Rey’s office in the first place. He crouches down to Rian’s eye level and hopes to god his face looks serious enough to let Rian know he’s in a heap of trouble. “You know you’re not supposed to go off by yourself. What were you thinking?”

Rian looks sheepishly at the floor. “I’m sorry. I got hungry, so I tried to find the kitchen Kaydel showed me earlier and I got lost. But Rey helped me.” Rian looks up at Rey and absolutely beams at her. “Rey is  _ awesome _ , dad. She gave me a lollipop and she thought my Kylo Ren action figure was cool. You should go on a date with her.”

Ben’s eyes go so wide they nearly bug out of his head. He really hopes Rey didn’t hear that, but judging by the way her eyebrows shoot all the way up to her hairline, he’s wrong. “Rian, please--”

“She has really cool games on her computer,” Rian gushes, “and she’s got a drawer full of all kinds of candy. She’s so cool! You have to ask her on a date.”

Ben would like very much to say something-- _ anything _ \--to get his son to stop talking, but the sheer amount of embarrassment he’s feeling has rendered him utterly speechless. His mouth just keeps bobbing open and closed like he’s a goldfish.

Rey is all too quiet during this. He thinks maybe it’s a good thing, considering she could have started laughing at the idea of going out with him. Then again, maybe she’s so uncomfortable with the thought she finds it best to stay silent to let the awkwardness of this whole situation pass. Either way, everything about what’s happening right now is starting to feel more like Ben is in the middle of a nightmare than a dream.

And one that keeps getting worse, apparently, because Rian  _ keeps _ talking, turning his attention fully to Rey now. “My dad can cook for you! He makes the best food. He’s also super clean and wears nice clothes. He’s kinda weird, though.” He leans in a little bit closer to Rey and not-so-quietly whispers, “He irons his boxers.”

The corners of Rey’s lips quirk and she cocks a brow at Ben. “Does he now?”

Ben flushes a bright shade of scarlet all the way up to the tips of his ears. God, she’s  _ never _ going to want to go out with him now--not that he was planning on asking her any time soon considering he hasn’t quite figured out how to think properly around her yet, and Rian certainly isn’t helping. “Rian--that’s not--you don’t  _ say _ that to people.”

Rian shrugs unapologetically. “Whatever. Can I stay with Rey for a while?”

“ _ No _ .” Ben is utterly mortified and the sooner he can get out of Rey’s office, the sooner he’ll be able to forget this encounter ever happened. Ben checks his watch and silently thanks the universe he has a legitimate excuse to leave. He’s supposed to meet Snoke and their client in five minutes. Ben quickly stands to his full height and grabs Rian’s wrist to lead him back to his office. “Let’s go, Rian. Rey needs to get back to work and I have a meeting to go to.”

But Rian protests, trying to wiggle his arm free. “I don’t want to go back! I want to stay with Rey.”

“Kaydel will keep you company.”

“Kaydel’s no fun.  _ Rey _ is fun. She has  _ candy _ .”

“Rian,  _ no _ .” Ben’s voice is stern. “ _ Let’s go _ .”

Ben prides himself on the fact that he has been able to successfully talk his child down from having a tantrum in public every time it looks like one is about to happen. However, this time seems like it’s going to be the one to break the streak. Instead of complying, Rian goes completely limp and collapses to the floor, dangling in Ben’s grip. He then curls into a ball and starts to whimper softly.

Ben sighs heavily and sets Rian completely on the floor before releasing his wrist. Fantastic--first his son talks about his laundry habits in front of his crush (he likes it when his boxers have no wrinkles in them, okay?) and now he’s having a meltdown in her office. This is  _ not _ how he thought this day was going to go.

Ben looks apologetically at Rey. “I’m  _ so _ sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she says kindly, her eyes dropping sympathetically to Rian. “You know, I can watch him for a little while if it’s alright with you.”

Rian immediately stops crying and perks up. “Please let me stay with Rey, dad.  _ Please _ .”

Ben can’t quite hide the look of surprise on his face as Rey and Rian wait for his response. He thought everything about what just happened was a disaster, and she  _ should _ be wanting to avoid  _ any _ person with his genetic material, so why does she want to watch his kid? “I--I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“It’s fine-- _ really _ ,” she insists. “It’s kind of a boring day anyway. I’ve got the time.” She purses her lips. “Probably shouldn’t have said that to the vice president.”

“I don’t care what you do with your day,” Ben blurts before he has time to think it over. He probably shouldn’t encourage her slacking off in the office, considering he’s technically her superior, but he  _ really _ doesn’t care because  _ Rey wants to watch his kid _ .

“I’m going to tell my boss you said that the next time he catches me playing games on my computer.” She winks at him knowingly and his mouth goes dry.

Ben laughs a little too loudly at her joke and clears his throat. “Um, okay. My meeting should be done in an hour. I’ll take him off your hands then.”

“Okay.” She smiles and looks at Rian. “Hear that? We get to have fun for a whole  _ hour _ .”

Rian cheers victoriously and starts running in circles around Rey’s desk. Rey laughs, and Ben thinks her laugh is the prettiest sound he’s ever heard in his life.

***

He’s gone for much longer than an hour.

Admittedly, the meeting probably takes longer than it should because he can’t really think about much else except  _ Rey is watching my kid Rey is watching my kid Rey is  _ actually _ watching my kid _ . When it’s five minutes past, he sends Rey an e-mail from his phone asking if she can watch Rian a little longer. She responds with an enthusiastic “No problem!!” followed by five smiley faces, which makes the corners of Ben’s mouth quirk. After another thirty minutes go by, he e-mails her again with another apology and promises he won’t be much longer. She sends back a photo of Rian sitting on her office couch holding two thumbs up and sticking out his red-stained tongue. A full-blown smile breaks out on Ben’s face that time, earning him a very questionable look from Snoke.

When the meeting finally ends, it’s five-thirty-- _ much _ later than he anticipated it would go. Cursing, he rushes back to his office and packs up his briefcase. Kaydel is long gone--as is most of the office--having left a half an hour earlier. Guilt spreads in Ben’s chest as he thinks about Rey having to stay late by herself because she got stuck watching his son. What if she had plans? He’s sure the last thing she wanted to do was babysit a seven-year-old at work after everyone has gone home.

After locking his office door, he rushes over to Rey’s. Her’s is the only one still lit, and when he rushes inside, she’s typing away on her keyboard, eyes trained at the computer monitor in front of her. They lift when she sees him, and she gives him a smile that leaves butterflies fluttering in his stomach. “Hey,” she whispers and points to the couch. “He’s sleeping.”

Ben looks over and sees his son sprawled out across the cushions, drooling and clutching his action figure tight to his chest. He looks absolutely dead to the world, little belly rising and falling with each even breath.

“How long has he been out?”

“About a half an hour. I think he had a sugar crash.” She makes an apologetic face. “I probably should have asked you first before I gave him any more candy. I know some parents are weird about that.”

Ben shakes his head. “It’s alright. I hope he didn’t bother you too much.”

“Not at all! We had a blast.” She says it with genuine happiness. “ _ And _ I was still able to get some work done, so I promise I’m still a good employee.”

Ben chuckles. “I’m glad.” He takes a seat on the edge of the couch by Rian’s feet. He reaches over to brush back a dark curl from his forehead. Rian got Ben’s hair for sure. He had the same floppy mess as a kid. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting so long. I had no idea my meeting was going to go so late. I hope I didn’t ruin any of your plans.”

“If by plans you mean drinking wine alone in my apartment while watching silly rom coms, then yes,” she giggles. “But I think I can reschedule.”

“Sounds more exciting than my night,” Ben comments. “I have a mountain of paperwork waiting for me.”

Rey scrunches her face. “That’s no fun at all. It’s Friday. You should relax tonight, I think you’ve earned it.”

“I should.” He meant it as an absent-minded agreement (he’s not even sure he knows how to relax anymore), but he finds that he really  _ does  _ want time to himself. Or to spend it with Rian. He can’t remember the last time they’ve  _ really  _ spent some time together. Maybe Ben can take him to the movies this weekend, or the zoo. Rian used to love going to the zoo when he was littler. 

Ben gently shakes rian awake. It takes some coaxing, but eventually Rian sits up. Ben tells him it’s time to go home, and Rian rubs his eyes and yawns and insists on being carried to the car. So Ben scoops him up and Rian wraps his arms around Ben’s neck and curls his head into Ben’s shoulder.

But before Rian can doze off again, Ben asks, “What do you say to Rey for watching you?”

“Thanks, Rey,” he mumbles with his eyes closed.

“You’re welcome, Rian,” she coos back.

Ben turns to face her. “Seriously, I don’t know how to begin to thank you for today.” 

Rey taps her chin, thinking. “I might have an idea.”

“Anything.”

“If it’s not too much trouble, would you mind giving me a lift home?” she asks. “My car is in the shop and I’d like to avoid taking the subway if I can.”

“Of course!” He’s both thrilled and stressed out at the thought of her sitting that close to him for an extended period of time, but he’ll show his appreciation any way he can. “My car is in the garage. Let me just grab this.” Ben attempts to bend down and pick up his briefcase, but it’s hard with a seven-year-old in his arms. He looks at Rey helplessly. “Do you mind?” 

“Not at all,” she laughs and lifts it by the handle. She tests the weight. “It’s heavy.”

“I told you, I have a lot of paperwork.”

“You  _ definitely _ need a night off, then.”

They start making their way to the parking garage, making polite conversation along the way. They talk more about their jobs. Ben tells her a little bit about Bazine and Rey tells him about her foster brother, Finn, and how she loves watching his kids. She even offers to watch Rian again for him if he needs her too, and the idea of her in his home is enough to make his hands feel clammy.

They finally make it to Ben’s massive SUV and Rey helps him open the back door to strap Rian into his car seat. Rian stays asleep the whole time, even after he’s buckled in, and Ben gently closes the car door as to not wake him. 

He puts his hand on the passenger door handle to pull it open for Rey, but he stops. “Before we go, I just want to apologize for earlier.”

“Oh, Ben, I’ve already told you I didn’t mind having to look after him.”

“Not that.” Ben swallows. “About...me making you to dinner.”

“Oh  _ that _ .” She waves her hand in dismissal. “You don’t need to apologize for that.”

“I do.” He takes his hand off the handle and shoves both of them into the pockets of his slacks. “I don’t know where Rian got the idea from. I haven’t dated since his mother passed. I don’t know how to go about it or how Rian would take it, so I just haven’t tried. It seems like he’s become attached to you really quickly, though, and he’s got this  _ idea _ in his head and I just--I hope he didn’t make you feel uncomfortable and that you might feel obligated--”

“Ben,” she cuts him off, eyes full of understanding. “It’s okay. It didn’t make me uncomfortable at all.”

He sighs with relief. Thank god. He might spend the rest of his days longingly staring at her from a distance, but at least she won’t think he’s a total--

“But I would like to,” she says definitively. “That is, for you to make me dinner. Not out of obligation.”

He thinks his heart stops beating then. His mouth opens to speak, but nothing comes out, so he just stands there silently gaping at her. 

“Ben?” Rey asks. “Are you okay?”

He needs to say something right now because he thinks this beautiful woman just asked him out and she’s  _ waiting _ for an answer, so he, very stupidly, says the first thing that pops into his mind: “Like a date?”

God, he’s dumb.

She nods. “I thought that was obvious.” Her voice sounds a lot less confident. “Did I misread this? Because if I did, please forget I said anything and I’m going to go live in a cave--”

“No-- _ no _ \--you’re not!” He’s fucking this up. He needs to rectify this-- _ now _ . “I just...can’t believe you want to go out with me.”

Rey’s cheeks turn pink and she smiles crookedly at him. “I’ve kinda had a crush on you since I started working here last year.”

Ben’s brain is short circuiting. “You--you  _ noticed _ me?”

She looks him up and down. “You’re kind of hard to miss.”

His jaw hits the floor. All this time he’s spent ogling her, wishing she would look at him, when in reality she’s been doing so this entire time and he’s just been too blind from his own self-doubt to see it. He’s such an idiot.

“I’m such an idiot. I’ve had a crush on you since you started, too.” He takes a step closer to her, noticing the scattering of freckles across her face and the gold flecks in her eyes for the first time. “I should have said something to you.”

“I think we’re both to blame here,” she snorts. “I never thought in a million years the VP would ever take a second glance at a lowly IT Manager. I guess it’s a good thing your kid came into my office today, huh?”

“Yes.” He can’t stop staring at her, this beautiful creature that’s been noticing him the same way he’s been noticing her for the last year. He’s such a dumbass. “You know, I just thought of another way to thank you for today.”

Her eyebrow quirks in curiosity. “Oh?”

He nods and leans down, pressing his lips to hers. They’re warm and soft and taste like strawberries, and he thinks he’s absolutely died and gone to heaven when her mouth moves against his, returning his kiss.

He pulls back a moment later, but not too far. Just enough to see her eyes slowly open and look at him like she’d been waiting a whole year for him to do that. “Do you kiss all your babysitters?”

He grins. “Just you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a kudos❤️
> 
> Come follow me on Twitter @princesskaits!


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